iPhone owners can buy these aftermarket displays now, get CarPlay this summer.

Yesterday, Alpine Electronics announced plans to release a new in-car display compatible with Apple's CarPlay. It was the first announcement we'd heard about adding CarPlay support to an existing vehicle rather than buying an all-new one, but it will require the purchase of all-new hardware—as far as we know, Alpine's existing in-car displays won't be upgraded to support the feature.

Today, the Pioneer Corporation is doing Alpine one better: it will be upgrading five of its existing aftermarket car displays to support CarPlay via a firmware update. That update will be issued in the "early summer." So if everything happens on time, buying one of Pioneer's displays will be the fastest way to get CarPlay in a car you already own.

The five displays being upgraded span a variety of price points, from the $1,400 AVIC-8000NEX at the high end to the $700 AVH-4000NEX at the low end. Those two and the $1,200 AVIC-7000NEX have 7-inch 800×480 touchscreens, while the $750 AVIC-5000NEX and $900 AVIC-6000NEX sport 6.1-inch displays with the same resolution. Each display offers a variety of features (including, in some cases, turn-by-turn navigation and Android compatibility) when there's no iPhone connected, though connecting a CarPlay-capable iPhone running iOS 7.1 should offer approximately the same experience no matter which of the screens you use.

The 4000NEX is even more tempting now than when it was announced. My current head unit is 8 years old and I was thinking about upgrading it. This might just happen to make for a nice birthday present in a few months.

putting all the "smarts" in the head is dumb. I don't want the Auto mfgs proprietary head any more than I want their crap onboard GPS. Let me dock/connect my phone (brand & OS independent) and let it drive the onboard display. It would be one hell of a protocol to implement, but I know I'm not the only one that would like to take the choice of UX, Updates, Music Service, GPS from the manufacturers for myself. Auto makers and even stereo mfgs update their systems a speed that would make a sloth look spry.

There's a lot of stuff that goes into a head unit. Consider what the size of the smallest semi bookshelf stereo system is, then consider you need to stuff that in something the size of a DVD drive or two, include a disk slot, a huge screen, a bunch of other tech, make sure it can handle vibrations, and temperatures over 180 degrees, and below -40, consider all that, and don't forget a kicking amp, and the price is not unreasonable. I'd love to see some lower prices, but quality and features cost money.

It wouldn't be so hard to integrate an MHC cable to an Android phone, but then you need a special app to handle the phone while you're driving. You don't want to be messing with the standard Android interface on the road. That's the sort of head unit I'd like to see. CD player radio, amp, touchscreen, with an MHC cable to plug into an android phone and simply mirror the screen.

I would think a great looking app on a docked phone is a better implementation than trying to design a new UI on an LCD design. The effort should be to build a solid amp and mic to boost the phone's audio features.

Is it known if you need to physically plug your phone in with a Lightning cable, or if it will work over Bluetooth/wifi?

As I recall the early demos all had you plugging in directly which would be a deal killer for me. I want push button start on my next car so I don't have to fish my keys out of my pocket, I don't want to trade that for having to fish my phone out of my pocket.

putting all the "smarts" in the head is dumb. I don't want the Auto mfgs proprietary head any more than I want their crap onboard GPS. Let me dock/connect my phone (brand & OS independent) and let it drive the onboard display. It would be one hell of a protocol to implement, but I know I'm not the only one that would like to take the choice of UX, Updates, Music Service, GPS from the manufacturers for myself. Auto makers and even stereo mfgs update their systems a speed that would make a sloth look spry.

Is it known if you need to physically plug your phone in with a Lightning cable, or if it will work over Bluetooth/wifi?

As I recall the early demos all had you plugging in directly which would be a deal killer for me. I want push button start on my next car so I don't have to fish my keys out of my pocket, I don't want to trade that for having to fish my phone out of my pocket.

All CarPlay so far has been wired. There have been rumors about wireless support using the same basic tech as AirPlay but so far they're only rumors.

putting all the "smarts" in the head is dumb. I don't want the Auto mfgs proprietary head any more than I want their crap onboard GPS. Let me dock/connect my phone (brand & OS independent) and let it drive the onboard display. It would be one hell of a protocol to implement, but I know I'm not the only one that would like to take the choice of UX, Updates, Music Service, GPS from the manufacturers for myself. Auto makers and even stereo mfgs update their systems a speed that would make a sloth look spry.

That's the whole point of CarPlay.

Except that CarPlay is only for iPhones - he wanted brand and OS independent.

What is needed is an open standard that implements the same thing CarPlay is doing.

putting all the "smarts" in the head is dumb. I don't want the Auto mfgs proprietary head any more than I want their crap onboard GPS. Let me dock/connect my phone (brand & OS independent) and let it drive the onboard display. It would be one hell of a protocol to implement, but I know I'm not the only one that would like to take the choice of UX, Updates, Music Service, GPS from the manufacturers for myself. Auto makers and even stereo mfgs update their systems a speed that would make a sloth look spry.

That's the whole point of CarPlay.

Except that CarPlay is only for iPhones - he wanted brand and OS independent.

What is needed is an open standard that implements the same thing CarPlay is doing.

That's contradictory, because you can't have great integration and also an open standard that keeps up with changing technology. It's one or the other, and you only have to look so far as the Android Update Alliance to see how an "open" standard that keeps up to date with technology fares. So I'd rather something like CarPlay come out and actually challenge other manufacturers to do better. Because we all know that competition is better, and hopefully over time, the auto industry will learn that people will want one way or another and costs will come down.

All I've ever wanted is a unit that supports Spotify well. My current high end single-DIN JVC does a passable job of it - displaying info natively and forward/back/pause/play, but full control is well outside of its capabilities and I don't hold it against it. I switch between downloaded (premium) spotify lists and music on my iPod Touch, going BT with my android when I need to.

Seeing Apple starting to take Spotify more seriously is a good thing. It's only the best thing to happen to music since the .mp3.

There's a lot of stuff that goes into a head unit. Consider what the size of the smallest semi bookshelf stereo system is, then consider you need to stuff that in something the size of a DVD drive or two, include a disk slot, a huge screen, a bunch of other tech, make sure it can handle vibrations, and temperatures over 180 degrees, and below -40, consider all that, and don't forget a kicking amp, and the price is not unreasonable. I'd love to see some lower prices, but quality and features cost money.

The disc drive consumes most of the space in a modern head unit. The electronics take up little space, and the MOSFET IC amps are in small packages no larger than an inch or so.

Look inside a "mechless" unit, even a single DIN unit, and most of it is air.

I've seen a lot of bellyaching about the pricing of those units. But they've always been expensive, and the NEX line is Pioneer's top of the line.

I would assume that it's one of the few segments of the 12V industry that's still making some money and desirable for customers. The rest of it has either been marginalized, or rendered obsolete by the OE audio systems. Lower end head units are almost commodities now.

putting all the "smarts" in the head is dumb. I don't want the Auto mfgs proprietary head any more than I want their crap onboard GPS. Let me dock/connect my phone (brand & OS independent) and let it drive the onboard display. It would be one hell of a protocol to implement, but I know I'm not the only one that would like to take the choice of UX, Updates, Music Service, GPS from the manufacturers for myself. Auto makers and even stereo mfgs update their systems a speed that would make a sloth look spry.

That's the whole point of CarPlay.

Except that CarPlay is only for iPhones - he wanted brand and OS independent.

What is needed is an open standard that implements the same thing CarPlay is doing.

Like USB-C? So maybe in 3 years we will have such a solution baked into Android 6.0 and Android powered car systems.

putting all the "smarts" in the head is dumb. I don't want the Auto mfgs proprietary head any more than I want their crap onboard GPS. Let me dock/connect my phone (brand & OS independent) and let it drive the onboard display. It would be one hell of a protocol to implement, but I know I'm not the only one that would like to take the choice of UX, Updates, Music Service, GPS from the manufacturers for myself. Auto makers and even stereo mfgs update their systems a speed that would make a sloth look spry.

That's the whole point of CarPlay.

Except that CarPlay is only for iPhones - he wanted brand and OS independent.

What is needed is an open standard that implements the same thing CarPlay is doing.

Like USB-C? So maybe in 3 years we will have such a solution baked into Android 6.0 and Android powered car systems.

We already have both Android and WP showing off their solutions. I doubt either one will ever see any real traction.

As it is, just about every head unit out there worth buying still won't accept SD cards for storage and thinks I want a stupid usb stick hanging on the front or wired to the back.

putting all the "smarts" in the head is dumb. I don't want the Auto mfgs proprietary head any more than I want their crap onboard GPS. Let me dock/connect my phone (brand & OS independent) and let it drive the onboard display. It would be one hell of a protocol to implement, but I know I'm not the only one that would like to take the choice of UX, Updates, Music Service, GPS from the manufacturers for myself. Auto makers and even stereo mfgs update their systems a speed that would make a sloth look spry.

That's the whole point of CarPlay.

Except that CarPlay is only for iPhones - he wanted brand and OS independent.

What is needed is an open standard that implements the same thing CarPlay is doing.

Sure, but creating a standard takes years. Proprietary options are always 2 or 3 years ahead of open ones.

I'm sure a standard will exist in 2016 or 2017. Expecting it before then is asking too much.

There is no reason why an android phone couldn't implement CarPlay, unless they decide to do it differenly. In that case only a firmware update should be needed.

putting all the "smarts" in the head is dumb. I don't want the Auto mfgs proprietary head any more than I want their crap onboard GPS. Let me dock/connect my phone (brand & OS independent) and let it drive the onboard display. It would be one hell of a protocol to implement, but I know I'm not the only one that would like to take the choice of UX, Updates, Music Service, GPS from the manufacturers for myself. Auto makers and even stereo mfgs update their systems a speed that would make a sloth look spry.

That's the whole point of CarPlay.

Except that CarPlay is only for iPhones - he wanted brand and OS independent.

What is needed is an open standard that implements the same thing CarPlay is doing.

You mean like MirrorLink (nee Terminal Mode)? MirrorLink is already a published standard using VNC, USB, WiFi, BT and other common interfaces/standards. In addition, it has been around for about 5 years already, and some after-market head units already support it. There are MirrorLink apps for Symbian, Meego, Android (and iOS I believe).

I wish companies (especially Apple) would get over their NIH issues and use existing standards. CarPlay is reinventing the wheel and Apple-centric, thus pushing manufacturers into supporting Apple, which in turn pushes iOS device sales.

I wish companies (especially Apple) would get over their NIH issues and use existing standards. CarPlay is reinventing the wheel and Apple-centric, thus pushing manufacturers into supporting Apple, which in turn pushes iOS device sales.

I want push button start on my next car so I don't have to fish my keys out of my pocket, I don't want to trade that for having to fish my phone out of my pocket.

Are you prepared to tank your phone's battery time to just 2-3 hours though? The phone has to enter a high-send state to maintain carplay, and wifi send costs are -very- expensive. Wifi receive is usually power intensive enough to reduce battery by a noticeable amount - but send is even worse. (No site sadly benchmarks this)

In addition, the CPU most likely has to remain in an active state, further tanking the battery.

I want push button start on my next car so I don't have to fish my keys out of my pocket, I don't want to trade that for having to fish my phone out of my pocket.

Are you prepared to tank your phone's battery time to just 2-3 hours though? The phone has to enter a high-send state to maintain carplay, and wifi send costs are -very- expensive. Wifi receive is usually power intensive enough to reduce battery by a noticeable amount - but send is even worse. (No site sadly benchmarks this)

In addition, the CPU most likely has to remain in an active state, further tanking the battery.

I was hoping Apple would do something clever, like having the image on the screen statically buffered and not sent from the phone unless you touched it or it was actively displaying a map etc. They could also only update the part of the screen that changed (I'm guessing they already do that). How about using the new(er) Bluetooth 4.0 LE and not WiFi, or switch back-and-forth between wifi and BT as needed. I'll plug my phone in for an hour + ride, but if I'm just running to the store and want to pickup listening to the song I was listening to in my kitchen (via airplay) I'm not going to want to go through the trouble of hooking things up.

I'll plug my phone in for an hour + ride, but if I'm just running to the store and want to pickup listening to the song I was listening to in my kitchen (via airplay) I'm not going to want to go through the trouble of hooking things up.

Then just use your phone as a bluetooth source and play the music. This is more for the case where you want to see your phone's turn-by-turn navigation on the car's screen or want your contact list or messaging available to the car.

Is it known if you need to physically plug your phone in with a Lightning cable, or if it will work over Bluetooth/wifi?

As I recall the early demos all had you plugging in directly which would be a deal killer for me. I want push button start on my next car so I don't have to fish my keys out of my pocket, I don't want to trade that for having to fish my phone out of my pocket.

Supposedly they're working on Wifi for Carplay, although for activities like GPS you'd likely want to plug it in anyway since that'll drain the battery that much faster.

putting all the "smarts" in the head is dumb. I don't want the Auto mfgs proprietary head any more than I want their crap onboard GPS. Let me dock/connect my phone (brand & OS independent) and let it drive the onboard display. It would be one hell of a protocol to implement, but I know I'm not the only one that would like to take the choice of UX, Updates, Music Service, GPS from the manufacturers for myself. Auto makers and even stereo mfgs update their systems a speed that would make a sloth look spry.

That's the whole point of CarPlay.

Except that CarPlay is only for iPhones - he wanted brand and OS independent.

What is needed is an open standard that implements the same thing CarPlay is doing.

Like USB-C? So maybe in 3 years we will have such a solution baked into Android 6.0 and Android powered car systems.

We already have both Android and WP showing off their solutions. I doubt either one will ever see any real traction.

As it is, just about every head unit out there worth buying still won't accept SD cards for storage and thinks I want a stupid usb stick hanging on the front or wired to the back.

Price is honestly a big reason that most people don't buy aftermarket head units, but there is also the matter of compatibility. They're getting perilously close to losing their market too with every manufacturer building head units in to their cars so much now that you need an adapter to use a aftermarket unit in more than half of cars.

For example, most of the dashboard electronics on my current car (2010 Mazda 3) are located inside the stock head unit. So much so that to replace it you need to retain half of the electronics from the head unit and stash them somewhere else. To make that worse it's a very non-standard shape so you either mod the stock one or buy one of the few ones designed to fit the exact model of car.

What we really need is an interfacing standard for this that supports all popular phones that gives the phone access to the built in touchscreen and any buttons on the dash the car manufacturer wires up. That would be the ultimate solution and we may well see it because it's ultimately cheaper for the car manufacturers.

putting all the "smarts" in the head is dumb. I don't want the Auto mfgs proprietary head any more than I want their crap onboard GPS. Let me dock/connect my phone (brand & OS independent) and let it drive the onboard display. It would be one hell of a protocol to implement, but I know I'm not the only one that would like to take the choice of UX, Updates, Music Service, GPS from the manufacturers for myself. Auto makers and even stereo mfgs update their systems a speed that would make a sloth look spry.

That's the whole point of CarPlay.

Except that CarPlay is only for iPhones - he wanted brand and OS independent.

What is needed is an open standard that implements the same thing CarPlay is doing.

You mean like MirrorLink (nee Terminal Mode)? MirrorLink is already a published standard using VNC, USB, WiFi, BT and other common interfaces/standards. In addition, it has been around for about 5 years already, and some after-market head units already support it. There are MirrorLink apps for Symbian, Meego, Android (and iOS I believe).

I wish companies (especially Apple) would get over their NIH issues and use existing standards. CarPlay is reinventing the wheel and Apple-centric, thus pushing manufacturers into supporting Apple, which in turn pushes iOS device sales.

FYI, MirrorLink is included on these Pioneer head units. Supporting CarPlay doesn't preclude supporting other devices through other means. If CarPlay allows Apple to create a better experience for iOS users, why shouldn't they do it?

You mean like MirrorLink (nee Terminal Mode)? MirrorLink is already a published standard using VNC, USB, WiFi, BT and other common interfaces/standards. In addition, it has been around for about 5 years already, and some after-market head units already support it. There are MirrorLink apps for Symbian, Meego, Android (and iOS I believe).

Apparently MirrorLink requires specific silicon in the car for compatibility with some phones:

Quote:

The [car entertainment system] must carry the MirrorLink API on a specific chipset in order to work with certain smartphones.

7" capacitive touchscreen that is Carplay compatible and has some basic interfaces for wheel buttons, etc. Add a decent amp stage. Build a mic directly into the touchscreen for phone calls to avoid using different mic setups.

I don't pay for unlimited cellular data, so CarPlay does not interest me. I don't want to rely on a cellular signal to enjoy music in the car, or for navigation. Both of those activities consume tons of data. I have an iPod Classic 160GB in the car for music, so I don't have to worry about losing the music when driving in an area with spotty service, or none at all. My factory stereo already displays all iPod data including artwork, so I don't need CarPlay for that. I also have XM. I would rather have OEM navigation that does not require a cell signal to function. What good is CarPlay if you are in an area without cell service, like driving through a desert area? So much for your smartphone navigation, which still requires cell service in addition to GPS. I don't need to see phone messages on the screen, which is still dangerous. You should not be trying to read a text message while driving, even though it is read to you by voice prompts. My factory stereo does not display text messages while the car is in motion, but it will read them to me. So I would be surprised if CarPlay allows the text messages to appear on the screen while the car is in motion.

Bluetooth works fine for phone calls and text messages via Siri. I don't need CarPlay for what I can already do with my current stereo. Those that buy an aftermarket stereo with Navi built-in, are likely to use the Navi in the stereo, not their smartphone. They would not spend the money for that feature if they were not going to use it.

I don't pay for unlimited cellular data, so CarPlay does not interest me. I don't want to rely on a cellular signal to enjoy music in the car, or for navigation. Both of those activities consume tons of data. I have an iPod Classic 160GB in the car for music, so I don't have to worry about losing the music when driving in an area with spotty service, or none at all. My factory stereo already displays all iPod data including artwork, so I don't need CarPlay for that. I also have XM. I would rather have OEM navigation that does not require a cell signal to function. What good is CarPlay if you are in an area without cell service, like driving through a desert area? So much for your smartphone navigation, which still requires cell service in addition to GPS. I don't need to see phone messages on the screen, which is still dangerous. You should not be trying to read a text message while driving, even though it is read to you by voice prompts. My factory stereo does not display text messages while the car is in motion, but it will read them to me. So I would be surprised if CarPlay allows the text messages to appear on the screen while the car is in motion.

Bluetooth works fine for phone calls and text messages via Siri. I don't need CarPlay for what I can already do with my current stereo. Those that buy an aftermarket stereo with Navi built-in, are likely to use the Navi in the stereo, not their smartphone. They would not spend the money for that feature if they were not going to use it.

CarPlay is just a method for displaying data from your phone on the car's screen. You don't need unlimited data, just use local playback from the Music (iPod) app on your phone. Or use Spotify, which can download any amount of music you like locally onto your device while on WiFi, which then requires no cellular access to play.

They're still in the early stages adding apps. I'd expect you'll see local navigation apps add CarPlay support once it starts shipping in vehicles. Even without, both Apple and Google now cache giant swaths of maps in vectorized formats while you're on WiFi in case you loose your connection. If you set a specific route, they also ensure the area around your entire route is cached.

In any case, it sounds like you already have your optimal setup. Music from your iPod and OEM navigation that doesn't require cell service.

On the other hand, I like having real-time traffic downloaded by my data connection. I like being able to play practically any song I can think of on a whim. I like being able to use high-accuracy voice recognition, even if that currently requires the audio to be transferred OTA and processed elsewhere. I'd like to be able to have texts read to me, and have verbal responses transcribed. And so on.

I don't pay for unlimited cellular data, so CarPlay does not interest me. I don't want to rely on a cellular signal to enjoy music in the car, or for navigation. Both of those activities consume tons of data. I have an iPod Classic 160GB in the car for music, so I don't have to worry about losing the music when driving in an area with spotty service, or none at all. My factory stereo already displays all iPod data including artwork, so I don't need CarPlay for that. I also have XM. I would rather have OEM navigation that does not require a cell signal to function. What good is CarPlay if you are in an area without cell service, like driving through a desert area? So much for your smartphone navigation, which still requires cell service in addition to GPS. I don't need to see phone messages on the screen, which is still dangerous. You should not be trying to read a text message while driving, even though it is read to you by voice prompts. My factory stereo does not display text messages while the car is in motion, but it will read them to me. So I would be surprised if CarPlay allows the text messages to appear on the screen while the car is in motion.

Bluetooth works fine for phone calls and text messages via Siri. I don't need CarPlay for what I can already do with my current stereo. Those that buy an aftermarket stereo with Navi built-in, are likely to use the Navi in the stereo, not their smartphone. They would not spend the money for that feature if they were not going to use it.

You do realize that CarPlay is simply an additional feature to all the things you like to use don't you? You can also get offline maps for the iPhone and music can be played locally. A cell signal isn't a requirement.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.